Computer Chip Plant Could Eventually Produce 1,200 Jobs

Mar. 02, 1989

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) _ A decision by Alliance Semiconductor Corp. to manufacture computer memory chips in this Kansas City suburb could eventually create more than 1,200 jobs, Gov. John Ashcroft said Wednesday.

Ashcroft announced at a news conference that the San Jose, Calif.-based company will lease vacant space at the former AT&T Microelectronics plant in Lee's Summit. AT&T continues to manufacture electronic components at the plant.

Missouri officials said Alliance is receiving $8.42 million in start-up financing from public and private sources.

Alliance said it hopes eventually to employ more than 1,200 workers in two ''clean rooms'' at the plant but said it will need financial backing to meet that goal. Clean rooms are immaculate work places designed designed to allow precise manufacturing of minute equipment.

The company expects to hire as many as 300 people in the next year to make chips in one of the 22,000-square-foot clean rooms, but expansion into the second room and additional employment will depend upon Alliance getting another $40 million to $50 million in financing, President N.D. Reddy said after a press conference at the AT&T plant.

Reddy said the start-up financing will get initial manufacturing started, but more cash will be needed if Alliance is to expand and thrive. He said Alliance hopes to raise the financing, possibly through a public stock offering, within a year.

Alliance, which was established in 1985, consists of 10 people working out of offices in San Jose. The company has licensed a Japanese company, NMB Semiconductor, to make the fast memory chips Alliance has designed. The Lee's Summit plant would be Alliance's only wholly owned manufacturing site.

The plant will make static random access memory chips (SRAMs) and eventually dynamic random access memory chips, also called DRAMs. SRAMs are faster but more expensive than the more common DRAMs. Japan dominates the world market for computer memory chips.

Alliance will invest $250,000 in the start-up, while the remainder will come from other investors.